1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microscopic device comprising an imaging unit and a display unit, with which treatment can be given by observing enlarged images of a treatment site of a subject, by displaying images of the treatment site of a subject which have been picked up by the imaging unit, and in particularly, to a support system of the imaging unit and the display unit.
2. Related Art
In surgeries, such as in neurosurgery and otolaryngology, fine and precise operations are required to enhance performance of the surgeries. In order to facilitate such fine and precise operations, surgical microscopes, which can provide enlarged images of a treatment site of a subject, are typically used. In surgeries using such surgical microscopes, the site of a subject for treatment has to be treated from every direction. Therefore, a used microscope must be the one which is movable to and fixable at various positions and angles. To satisfy such demands, microscopes in general are supported by an arm having a plurality of movable parts. Devices involving such a type of support arm for microscopes are disclosed in Japanese patent published unexamined application No. 62-231208, Japanese patent published unexamined application No. 2001-276092, Japanese patent published unexamined application No. 63-296746 and Japanese patent published examined application No. 02-009820.
All of the surgical microscopes disclosed in the above references have an arrangement in which a body of a microscope for observing a treatment site of a subject is integrally provided. A body of such a microscope comprises an objective lens for taking flux of light from a treatment site of a subject and an ocular lens for an operator to peep therethrough enlarged optical images of the treatment site of a subject, and these lenses are integrated or assembled into an integrated housing to constitute an integrated structure. Therefore, in observing the treatment site of a subject in various conditions, the ocular lens naturally has to be moved simultaneously with the objective lens. Accordingly, every time the operator changes a portion of the site to be observed to another portion, the operator, per se, has to move. Further, when the body of the microscope is largely tilted to obliquely observe the treatment site of a subject, the operator is forced to carry out observation in a terrible posture. As a matter of course, a surgery is carried out while observing a treatment site of a subject, and therefore, such a terrible posture may sometimes result in hardly allowing the operator to carry out the surgery with ease, tending to cause the operator to suffer from fatigue.
In recent years, with the rapid advances in electronics, a trend of making electronic images is under way in the field of the surgical microscopes described above. Also, for the conventional optical microscopes, surgical microscopes of digital image system are now being attempted. Devices involving such a digital image system surgical microscope are disclosed in Japanese patent published unexamined application No. 2002-006228 and Japanese patent published unexamined application No. 2001-051201.
Unlike the surgical microscope described hereinbefore, the above mentioned references, i.e. Japanese patent published unexamined application No. 2002-006228 and Japanese patent published unexamined application No. 2001-051201, disclose an arrangement in which a part for taking flux of light (imaging unit) from a treatment site of a subject is provided separately from image display means (display unit). Thus, when the imaging unit is tilted for oblique observation of the treatment site, the display unit remains unmovable, which allows an operator to constantly maintain an easy posture. However, when an operator attempts to give treatment to a treatment site of a subject, the operator has to extend his/her arms in a direction deviated from his/her forward direction, i.e. in a direction that has little to do with a direction of his/her natural movement. Accordingly, the operator may again be forced to carry out a surgery in a posture suffering from his/her arms' fatigue and unnatural feeling.
Such unfavorable circumstances are advanced as the tilting or movement of an imaging unit becomes larger, causing more hindrance in carrying out a surgery under the microscopic observation. The problem of such hindrance may be removed if a display unit is moved to an optimum position every time an imaging unit is moved. However, it is apparent that such an operation is very troublesome.